Gravity-railway.



No. 766,105. PATENTED JULY 26, 1904. B. B. FLOYD. GRAVITY RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26. 1903.

N0 MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WI TNESSES No. 766,105. PATENTED JULY 26, 1904. B. B. FLOYD.

GRAVITY RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26. 1903. N0 MODEL.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

PATENTBD JULY 26, 1904.

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

llllllllm ul 1 E8 "7 Qj:-35

Y B. B. FLOYD.

GRAVITY RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26. 1903.

No MODEL.

INVENTOR TOR/V5).

W/ TNESSES UNITED STATES Patented July 26, 1904.

PATENT OFFIC BYRON B. FLOYD, OF ATLANTIC CITY, NEWV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TOPHILA- DELPHIA AMUSEMENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEIV JERSEY.

GRAVITY-RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,105, dated July 26,1904.

Application filed June 26,1903. Serial No. 163,175. (No model.)

To all 11171 rm] if 121 /mern:

Be it known that I, BYRON B. FLOYD, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Atlantic City, in the county of Atlantic and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGravity-Railways. of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gravity-railways, its object being to provide,first, a novel construction and configuration of trackway; secondly, asimple and eflicient construction of carriage adapted to run on saidtrackway, and, thirdly, a simple and efiicient means for moving thecarriages up the elevating incline.

With this object in view the invention consists in the novelconstruction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter morefully set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the traekwayhaving one of the carriages mounted thereon, the latter being shownpartly broken away. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the trackway,showing one of the carriages mounted thereon. Fig. 3 is a side elevationof a portion of the trackway, showing one of the carriages mountedthereon. Fig. 4 is a vertical section as on the line 4: 4 of Fig. 2.Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section showing a portion of theconveyerchain, the guide-channel therefor, and the lug for engaging thechain with the carriage. Fig. 6 is a sectional plan thereof. Fig. 7 is asectional plan of the guide-channel, showing the conveyer-chain engagedtherewith. Fig. 8 is an end elevation of Fig. 5. Fig. 9 is adiagrammatic view in plan of the configuration of the trachway and themechanism for moving the carriages up the ascending incline, thesupporting structure being omitted for clearness. Fig. 10 is an endelevation of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is an enlarged elevation of one of thesprocket-wheels for engaging the conveyer chain. Fig. 12 is a verticalsection thereof.

1 designates my improved trackway, which in its preferred form comprisestwo pairs of rails 2 and 3, supported one pair above the other by theframework 5, as shown in Figs.

1, 2, 3, and l. The carriage which I employ on the trackway isconstructed to adapt itself 5 to the various curves of the latter, andthereby insure the easy running of the carriage over the curved portionsof the traclcway as well as the straight portions thereof. This carriagein its preferred embodiment is as follows: 6 and 7 designate two frames,which are connected together by a jointed beam 8, which comprises thefront and rear sections 9 and 10 and the intermediate section 11, thethree sections being hingedly connected by suitable bolts 12. The frame6 is secured to the front section 9 and extends downwardly on therespective sides of the rails 2, and the frame 7 is secured to the rearsection 10, and it also extends downwardly on the respective sides ofthe rails 2. Each of the frames 6 and 7 is provided with a pair ofsupporting-wheels 13, which are adapted to run upon the rails 2, and thelower ends of the respective sides of each of the frames 6 and 7 areprovided with wheels 14, which take against the inclined faces of therails 23, and thereby prevent lateral tilting. 15 and 16 designate thefront and rear carriage-bodies, respectively, each of which extends overthe jointed beam 8 and downwardly on the respective sides thereof. Thefront body 15 is rigidly secured to the top of the frame 6 and the frontsection 9 of the jointed beam 8, and the rear body 16 is pivoted, as at17, to the front section 9 of the jointed beam and, as at 18, to the topof the frame 7. The rear body 16 is supported against lateral tilting byrollers 19, carried by extensions 20 on the rear frame 7. The front andrear sections 9 and 10 of the jointed beam are provided with frames 21,to which are slidingly fitted the spring-actuated rods 22 and 23 of theusual buffers 2a and 25, respectively. Projecting downwardly from theseframes 21 are studs 26, carrying rollers 27, which are arranged betweenthe rails 2.

By the foregoing description it will be seen that the rollers 27,running between the rails 2, will cause the jointed beam 8 to follow thecurvature of the trackway 1, and thereby adjust the frames 6 and 7 tobring the axes of the supporting-wheels 13 substantially paral lel tothe radial lines of the curves of the trackway, thus insuring the easyrunning of the carriage around said curves. The pivotal connections 17and 18 of the rear carriagebody 16 with the front section 9 of thejointed beam and with the rear frame 7 make the entire carriage veryflexible and permit the jointed beam to readily follow the curves of thetrackway.

The configuration of the trackway is as follows: Referring to Figs. 9and 10, 28 designates the ascending portion of the trackway, and 29 thedescending portion thereof. The upper and lower ends of the two sectionsof trackway are connected together, as is usual in gravity-railways,whereby when a carriage is moved up the ascending portion 28 andintroduced to the descending portion 29 it will be returned on thelatter by gravity to the.

bottom of the ascending portion 28. The ascending portion 28 of thetrackway is not only inclined upwardly, but it is also curved laterally,and in the present instance this portion of the trackway as it inclinesupwardly turns a complete circle, and thereby forms a spiral, as clearlyshown in the drawings. The descending portion of the trackway may be ofthe configuration shown in the drawings or of any desired configuration.The ascending portion of the trackway may also be varied withoutdeparting from the invention,

- the essential elements being the upwardly-inclined andlaterally-curved trackway in combination with means for moving carriagesup said incline, which latter element in its preferred form I shall nowproceed to describe.

Referring to Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, 3O designates achain-receiving channel, rectangular in cross-section and arrangedbetween the rails 2 of the trackway. The top of the channel 30 isprovided with a longitudinal slot 31, which extends the entire lengththereof. This channel is made to conform to the configuration of theascending incline 28 of the trackway, and it extends therethrough fromthe'point marked 00 to the point marked a in Figs. 9 and 10. Arrangedwithin the channel 30 is a suitable chain 32, which travels upwardthrough the channel and around suitably-located sprocket-wheels 33, 34,and 35, the wheel 33 directing the chain to enter the lower end of thechannel, the wheel 34 drawing the chain up through the channel, and thewheel 35 directing the chain from the wheel 34 to the wheel 33.

The shaft 36 of the sprocket-wheel 34 may be driven in any suitablemanner. In the present instance one end of this shaft extends outwardlyand is provided with a sprocketwheel 37 which is driven by a chain 38,passing around a sprocket-wheel 39 on a shaft 40, which latter shaft isdriven by a suitable motor 41.

The chain 32 comprises a series of links 42,

arranged at intervals and connected by the intermediate links 43. Eachlink 43 is of the following construction: 44 designates a block,preferably of wood, around which passes a strap or band 45. This strapor band is fitted to grooves in the sides of the block and extendsslightly beyond the respective ends of the block to receive the swiveledends of eyes 46, to which the intermediate links 42 are attached. Fittedto a central opening in the block 44 and extending beyond the outsideline thereof is an antifriction-roller 47,which is adapted to takeagainst the inside vertical wall of the channel 30 as the chain 32 isdrawn therethrough. It will be observed on reference to Fig. 7 that theintermediate links 43 do not contact with the walls of the channel. Inorder to reduce friction between the links 42 and either the top orbottom of the channel 30, I provide each of said links with brackets 48,in which are rotatably mounted a pair of rollers 49, which extendtransversely across the top and bottom of the block, as shown.

The sprocket-wheels 33, 34, and 35 are provided with forked arms 50, asshown in Figs. 11 and 12, which engage the links 42 to drive the chain32.

The rear buffer-rod 23 of the carriage is provided with a depending lug51, which is adapted to enter the channel 30 and extend through the slot31 in the top thereof. The lower end of this lug is forked to straddlethe links 43 and to be engaged by the block 44 of one of the links 42,to the end that as the chain 32 is drawn up through the channel thecarriage will be moved up the ascending portion of the trackway andstarted down the descending portion thereof.

While my invention is herein shown and described in a desirable andpracticable form, yet I do not limit myself to this particularconstruction, as the same may be greatly modified without departing fromthe invention.

I claim 1. In a gravity-railway the combination of a trackway includingin its configuration an upwardly-inclined and laterally-curved portion,a channel arranged substantially parallel to said trackway, a flexibleconveyer provided with antifriction-rollers, means for moving saidconveyer through said channel, a carriage adapted to run on saidtrackway, and means for engaging said carriage with said conveyer.

2. In a gravity-railway, the combination of a trackway including in itsconfiguration an upwardly-inclined spiral portion a carriage adapted torun thereon, a flexible conveyer provided with antifriction-rollers, aguidechannel for the conveyer arranged parallel to said portion oftrackway, means for engaging the carriage with the conveyer, and meansfor moving the conveyer through the channel.

3. In a gravity-railway, the combination with a conveyer-chain includinga series of links each of which is provided with twoantifriction-rollers journaled at right angles to each other, of achannel, and means for moving the chain through the channel.

4:. The combination of a laterally-curved trackway, and a carriageadapted to run thereon, said carriage comprising a jointed beam,supporting-wheels connected thereto, a body portion pivotally connectedto the jointed beam and means for causing said jointed beam to followthe curvature of the trackway.

5. The combination of a laterally-curved trackway, and a carriageadapted to run thereon, said carriage comprising a jointed beam providedwith lateral extensions, supportingwheels connected to said beam,rollers carried by said extensions, a body portion pivotally connectedto said beam and resting upon said rollers, and means for causing saidjointed beam to follow the curvature of the trackway. 6. The combinationof a laterally-curved trackway including a pair of parallel rails, and acarriage adapted to run thereon, said carriage comprising a jointedbeam, supportingwheels connected thereto, a body portion connected tothe jointed beam, and horizontallyarranged rollers connected to thejointed beam and arranged to travel between said rails whereby thejointed beam is caused to follow the curvature of the trackway.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BYRON B. FLOYD. Witnesses:

ANDREW V. GROUPE, RALPH H. GAMBLE.

